January 19, 2013

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle:

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 18 comments

Former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver dies at 82

posted by tommybiden at 10:57 AM on January 19, 2013

I grew up in the upper deck of Memorial Stadium, halfway down the first base line, in Section 39, Row 9, Seat 11, cheering for Singleton, DeCinces, Murray, Dempsey, Flanny, Little Rip; but my favorite Oriole of all was Earl Weaver: any game when he came out and got himself chucked for chinning up to the ump, kicking dirt, grabbing the ump's brush and demonstratively clearing off home plate so the ump could maybe see the difference between a ball and a strike, was not just a good game but a great game. I'd take an Earl Weaver ejection over a Lee May grand slam any day of the week.

Judging from his radio presence, any ump who didn't eject Earl Weaver had to have the patience of a saint and the ears of a mule.

Thanks for giving a kid a baseball team to love and a legendary sumbitch to admire, Earl Weaver. You were the greatest manager ever, in my young eyes.

posted by Hugh Janus at 11:25 AM on January 19, 2013

Yeah, those were the days. The Orioles teams of Earl Weaver were great, and he was a managing classic.

I grew up in a neighborhood where my best friend was an Orioles fan, and we had Yankees/Orioles debates/arguments/fights (actual knock down, drag out fights) about the rivalry that are actually some of my fondest memories. It involves an era and a team I loved to hate, but looking back, I repected them greatly, and it started and ended with Earl Weaver.

Rest in peace.

posted by dyams at 11:35 AM on January 19, 2013

RIP to a riveting individual who was always in the thick of heated baseball discussions amongst us kids.

Since he died on a cruise ship, can't help but think of his quote regarding his dislike for all the team travel he had to endure over the years:

"What scares the hell out of me is waking up dead some morning in the Hyatt Hotel in Oakland."

Also, his reply to the devoutly religious Pat Kelly, who asked if Weaver would like to see him walk with God:

"I'd rather see you walk with the bases loaded."

posted by beaverboard at 11:43 AM on January 19, 2013

The last Dallas Stars game of the 2011-12 season was watched in 514 Dallas-Fort Worth homes. (By comparison, one game of the Stars-Sabres Stanley Cup was watched by 500,000 DFW homes.)

posted by rcade at 12:19 PM on January 19, 2013

The Hockey Song

posted by tommybiden at 12:39 PM on January 19, 2013

You think Earl Weaver is *already* nose-to-nose with God, screaming about Moses not actually tagging his runner. 'Cause, you know, Moses would totally pretend that he actually tagged the runner when he actually hadn't.

posted by NoMich at 02:13 PM on January 19, 2013

Earl: "You're here for one goddamn specific reason!"
Ump: "What's that, Earl?"
Earl: "To f*** us!"
Ump: "Ahh, you're full of s***."

posted by grum@work at 02:25 PM on January 19, 2013

Or there's this Hockey Song.

posted by bender at 02:36 PM on January 19, 2013

Or Warren Zevon's Hit Somebody~The Hockey Song

posted by tommybiden at 03:09 PM on January 19, 2013

bender and tommytrump--nice work on the timely links! All three have been duly posted to my facebook in honor of the occasion.

posted by tahoemoj at 03:27 PM on January 19, 2013

I lived in Baltimore for a brief (3-year) time in the mid-'80s (1983-1986) and brought back two things from there. One was my wife, who broke the news about Earl Weaver to me about an hour ago. The other was the pleasure of being able to hear many of the Earl Weaver tales. I was not there when he was actually managing the team, but he was still part of the team and the baseball scene. Earl may well be in God's face about Moses, but I believe he had to fool Satan with a well-executed squeeze play for the run that got him to Heaven.

Does anyone know if they have Raleigh cigarettes in Heaven?

posted by Howard_T at 05:03 PM on January 19, 2013

Thanks, tahoemoj, here's another~Fifty Mission Cap

posted by tommybiden at 05:34 PM on January 19, 2013

Any chance we can we get the next round of the pick'em today?

posted by hincandenza at 06:48 PM on January 19, 2013

On the ice for Toronto's first goal tonight:

Kessel (assist)
Kadri (goal)
Komisarek
Komarov
Kostka (assist)

Kool!

posted by grum@work at 07:37 PM on January 19, 2013

Komisarek needs to turn his "K" around.

posted by NoMich at 07:55 PM on January 19, 2013

Tottenham and Man U are playing in heavy snow today at White Hart Lane.

posted by rcade at 11:16 AM on January 20, 2013

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